{"id":269045,"date":"2025-11-18T04:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T04:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/269045\/"},"modified":"2025-11-18T04:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T04:31:11","slug":"the-incredible-new-treatment-that-can-cure-liver-cancer-without-surgery-drugs-or-radiation-roger-had-cirrhosis-and-thought-he-was-going-to-die-now-he-says-im-so-grateful","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/269045\/","title":{"rendered":"The incredible new treatment that can cure liver cancer – without surgery, drugs or radiation. Roger had cirrhosis and thought he was going to die. Now he says: ‘I’m so grateful’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Told he had liver cancer<\/a>, Roger Jackson feared the worst. \u2018I thought, \u201cHere we go, I\u2019m going to die\u201d,\u2019 says the 80-year-old great-grandfather and retired sales manager.<\/p>\n

Patients in Roger\u2019s situation usually face gruelling surgery or chemotherapy. Instead, he became the first person in Europe to have a new, non-invasive \u00adprocedure called histotripsy. The treatment uses focused ultrasound waves to break down tumours.<\/p>\n

Without any surgical incision or the use of heat or radiation, there is less risk of complications than with conventional treatment, and no long recovery.<\/p>\n

Roger\u2019s liver cancer diagnosis, in July, came after an abnormality was spotted on a routine scan.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d been having annual liver scans and blood tests for about ten years after early signs of cirrhosis \u2013 long-term \u00addamage to the liver, often caused by drinking alcohol<\/a> or as the result of a viral infection \u2013 had been discovered.<\/p>\n

\u2018It came as a shock as I had no \u00adsymptoms,\u2019 recalls<\/a> Roger, who lives in Bedford with his wife, Gill, 79. \u2018I probably drank too much alcohol \u2013 my usual tipple was a good glass of wine,\u2019 he admits.<\/p>\n

A week after the latest scan raised concerns, a biopsy revealed he had hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) \u2013 liver cancer. The tumour was 2cm in size.<\/p>\n

In August, Roger met Dr Teik Choon See, a consultant interventional radiologist at Cambridge University NHS Foundation Trust \u2013 who told Roger his options included standard ablation or the pioneering histotripsy treatment. \u2018As there was no surgery involved, it really appealed,\u2019 says Roger.<\/p>\n

\"When <\/p>\n

When Roger Jackson, an 80-year-old great-grandfather and retired sales manager, was told by his doctor that he had liver cancer, he feared the worst<\/p>\n

The number of Britons dying from liver cancer has risen over the past decade, according to new figures from Liver Cancer UK \u2013 around 6,000 annually.<\/p>\n

Professor Stephen Ryder, a \u00adconsultant hepatologist at \u00adNottingham Hospitals NHS Trust, says the 41 per cent rise in deaths from liver cancer in \u00adEngland and Wales between 2013 and 2024 is possibly down to \u2018an increase in alcohol-related liver injury \u2013 made worse over the \u00adpandemic \u2013 and a rise in fatty liver disease, due to two-thirds of the population being overweight\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u2018Chronic damage to the liver cells leads to liver scarring,\u2019 says Professor Ryder. Scar tissue can eventually distort the liver \u2013known as cirrhosis. He explains: \u2018Around 90 per cent of liver \u00adcancer develops in people who already have cirrhosis.\u2019<\/p>\n

Treatment options include \u00adsurgery to remove part of the liver, or a liver transplant. But this can lead to delays \u2013 according to the NHS, the average wait for a liver is five to seven months. This invasive surgery is also high risk.<\/p>\n

A minimally invasive alternative is thermal ablation, using heat to kill cancerous cells, under general anaesthetic, with patients usually \u00adstaying in hospital overnight. Recovery takes about a week.<\/p>\n

But as it involves making a small incision, there is a risk of infection, bleeding or damage to surrounding blood vessels.<\/p>\n

Histotripsy could reduce these risks and a patient can resume their normal life immediately.<\/p>\n

Addenbrooke\u2019s Hospital in Cambridge (where Roger was referred as it was his closest major liver unit) became the first UK hospital to offer histotripsy in October after the device was funded by a charitable donation.<\/p>\n

\"John <\/p>\n

John became the first person in Europe to have a new, non-invasive procedure called histotripsy, a treatment that uses focused ultrasound waves to break down tumours<\/p>\n

Under a scheme overseen by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, early access can be granted for treatment with certain medical devices prior to full approval.<\/p>\n

Developed by a US-based \u00admedical company, histotripsy has been used to treat more than 2,000 patients with liver cancer in clinical trials.<\/p>\n

A 2025 study in the Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery, involving 295 patients at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio, who underwent \u00adhistotripsy to treat liver tumours, concluded it was safe, with few complications and compared well with other surgical treatment of liver tumours. (There isn\u2019t yet long-term data on success rates.)<\/p>\n

Roger was a good candidate for the new treatment, says Dr See. \u2018We could see the tumour clearly under ultrasound so we could target it accurately.\u2019<\/p>\n

Patients are given a general anaesthetic so they stay still \u00adduring treatment. Then a special water bath containing \u2018degassed\u2019 water (meaning most of the air has been removed) is placed on the patient\u2019s abdomen above their liver. (Ultrasound waves are more accurate when travelling through a medium such as water.)<\/p>\n

The duration of treatment depends on the tumour type and size \u2013 Roger\u2019s procedure took 20 minutes compared to at least one hour for ablation, and two to six hours for surgery. Dr See explains: \u2018The targeted sound waves create microscopic bubbles in the liquid within the tissue around the cancer cells.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018This mass of bubbles form and collapse thousands of times and, in effect, explode, which then destroys the cancer. But the \u00adsurrounding tissue is unharmed. The cancer cells are liquefied and absorbed into the body over the next month or two, leaving a small scar on the liver.\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Consultant <\/p>\n

Consultant hepatologist Professor Stephen Ryder says the rise in deaths from liver cancer is possibly down to \u2018an increase in alcohol-related liver injury \u2013 made worse over the pandemic \u2013 and a rise in fatty liver disease, due to two-thirds of the population being overweight\u2019<\/p>\n

He continues: \u2018If this treatment didn\u2019t go well because the of inaccurate targeting of the tumour, or it was too big, it would not stop a patient then having ablation.\u2019 (It\u2019s not possible to have ablation first, as the heat changes the structures of the cancer and nearby cells, making it difficult to distinguish what needs destroying.)<\/p>\n

A second UK patient is now due to be treated using histotripsy later this month.<\/p>\n

At present, histotripsy can only be used on liver cancers. However, trials are under way in the US assessing its feasibility for treating pancreatic cancer.<\/p>\n

Commenting on histotripsy, Professor Ryder says: \u2018Potentially it\u2019s a very interesting treatment because it doesn\u2019t involve external trauma.<\/p>\n

\u2018There are still lots of questions to answer. For example, we still need to know how big an area of cancer can be targeted and if the long-term outcomes are as good as ablation. But it\u2019s promising.\u2019<\/p>\n

A CT scan the day after Roger\u2019s procedure showed a mark on his liver where the ultrasound was directed, but no signs of cancer.<\/p>\n

\u2018I had no symptoms or discomfort beforehand and none afterwards, so in many ways it felt as if nothing had happened,\u2019 he says.<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019ll go back for regular checks, but I don\u2019t need to take any medication. I\u2019m so grateful I could have it \u2013 I was luckily in the right place at the right time.\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Told he had liver cancer, Roger Jackson feared the worst. \u2018I thought, \u201cHere we go, I\u2019m going to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":269046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-269045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-dailymail","tag-gb","tag-health","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=269045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/269045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=269045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=269045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=269045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}